Yesterday I spent time with a little boy who knows about may flies and footlogs. Needless to say I was mighty impressed.
You can see the may fly in the photo. Once he spotted them in the creek he lickety split took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his britchey legs, and went and caught one to show me.
And if you didn’t know, a footlog is a log laid over a creek or branch so that you can walk across without getting your britchey legs wet.
Last night’s video: Matt’s Birthday Supper – Soup Beans, Cornbread, Kilt Lettuce, & Strawberry Shortcake.
Tipper
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Fishing for bream and other panfish during a Mayfly hatch is an amazing experience. Here on the Cumberland Plateau, footlogs are a common means to get to the other side of a creek down in a holler.
I remember them footloose very well. Sometimes when the creek would get up, it would wash one plank or all away. Daddy would have to build another one.
So sweet ! I love it !
Loved the video of Matt’s Birthday Dinner ! Everything looked wonderful! Love to you all ~
Morning everyone. We had may flies in Missouri out in the country. My maternal Grandpa and grandma lived at the bottom of a big hill and the creek bed was just below the old cabin-house. It was beautiful there. I don’t remember how to get there, sure wish I did, I’d love to see it again. My grandparents have been gone for about 62 years but I often think about them. And surely miss them. We didn’t have a foot log, it had some big rocks we stood on and froze our tootsies walking in that old creek bed. We also bathed in it. That hilly area probably is in part of the Ozark area in Missouri, my birth state. Sure love this story and still laugh at how Quincy was so knowledgeable at his sweet young age. Now those parents deserve accolades for raising him with that knowledge. The birthday dinner looked awesome, but my mouth watered up and dripped for the strawberry shortcake. Yummy yum yum. Have a great day everyone and love and hugs to Miss Louzine. Looking forward to her full recovery. Blessings. Jennifer
I had a feeling that might be Quincy. To be so young, he sure is a wealth of knowledge. I don’t think I have ever seen a may fly until this picture, but I sure have been across a few footlogs growing up. Have a blessed day everyone!!
Oh Tipper. You always bring back sweet memories from my past that make me smile. I look forward to watching you and reading your wisdom every day. Love you my friend.
As a bug person, (collected medically important arthropods for uncle Sugar long ago) I’m highly impressed with the young feller’s knowledge. We have bright green flying critters with the same lovely wings. I must investigate further… and I must say aren’t those lovely, wispy, paper thin looking insect wings? If I had wings I’d fly away…. Happy day to all and blessings too!!! Jesus is all we have. Nothing else is certain.
You are so right…Jesus is the only way.
Playing in the creek was my favorite childhood pastime and is still the most relaxing thing a grown woman can do after a day of hard work. Walking across a footlog takes some skills, especially if it was placed there by nature and is lopsided and missing its bark. If the water is swift, looking down when crossing can make your head swim.
I googled mayfly and now know what they are, in fact I saw one last night. Similar to the snake doctors I mentioned but they were black and I seem to remember had purple wings.
Haven’t seen a May fly over here on our mountain yet, but I know they’re coming along with the Cicadas. I watch a lady from Asheboro NC, and she went outside close to her tree line so we could hear the Cicadas, and oh my goodness they were so incredibly loud. Can’t wait
The young Satterfield boy, no doubt. Boys and bugs. It’s good to know that some things never change for a country boy!
I don’t remember hearing of mayflies or britchey legs but footlogs I’ve seen a few. When I was young, being the oldest, I was left by my parents to watch my two brothers and sister while they went to the food store. Their last words were: “Stay away from the road and creek.” While playing outside I decided we could watch the fish in the creek better by getting on the footlog over the semi-deep creek in front of our house. The four of us were on the log when suddenly the log started moving and dumped us into the creek. I got my brothers and sister out and started to think how we could dry our clothes without my parents finding out how they became wet. We didn’t have a dryer, so we toweled off and sat in the sun for a while. Needless to say, we were still soaked when they returned. They knew right off what had happened and tanned my hide. When I was a camp counselor ten to fifteen years later, there was a footlog over the river at the bottom of a steep hill near the camp. I was in charge of six girls about 10 years old. When I saw that footlog all I thought about was those girls trying to cross the footlog, falling into the river and drowning. I caught two of them once on the footlog during that week and was able to get them off without them or me falling in. Enjoyed the video last evening of you cooking Matt a birthday dinner. I’m going to try your recipe for the shortcake which looked delicious.
I love the idea of a child running to catch a bug to show you. My granddaughters wouldn’t hesitate to pick one up either. Their favorite thing is catching fireflies. I also love the term britchey legs. Theres a little creek we drive to and let the grandkids throw rocks. They have the most fun wading in to find the perfect one. . Your video last night was so fun to watch. You definitely made us hungry. Family meals together are the greatest.
We’ve got Mayflies in northern Michigan as well though ours emerge bit later than yours and only in areas with fairly shallow water. They are harmless, and we certainly prefer them to mosquitos which are horrible in my watery part of the country.
I’ve never heard the word footlog before. I’m always learning something new from you Tipper. I watched last nights video with Mattt’s birthday dinner. You made him a feast fit for a king. It all looked delicious!
Quincy?
Papaw-yes 🙂
Footlogs and dams were a part of our playground in childhood. We used to build small dams to create pools in the crick (creek) and in the process learned the basics of hydraulic engineering and water resources engineering . We’d populate those pools with tadpoles and had our own eco-laboratory. Much more fun and instructive than video games!
JC, the neighbor kids would often dam the creek up I mention in my first comment. We would do this near a place where the road once forded the creek. The road was changed and a bridge built below this place, but many of children still play in the creek at the ford. After the bridge was built people would drive their cars into the creek at the ford and wash them. I spent many hours of my childhood playing and fishing for minnows in this creek, I saw one of my young neighbor boys fishing in it a few days ago.
When I was reading this I thought about Quincy at Satterfields. That boy knows about everything. I’ve never heard of may flies but I’ve fallen off footlogs more than once!
Glad I got all my outside work done yesterday because stormy weather is headed our way today. Everyone stay safe! Blessing to all.
Ha, Ha. Britchey legs. I love that. Gonna use it from now on. A blessed day to all.
Yep, that’s knowledge worth having. I’m not a trout fisherman but I understand trout go on a feeding frenzy during the May fly hatch. Good to know. And using foot logs (like walking railroad rails) trains you in balance and agility, also good to have. Good for you, Quincy! You’ll never be without interests being interested in nature.
having spent many years teaching first graders to read…I Loved your reference to walking on railroads. I remember we had children walk on two by fours. later we had them cross a horizontal ladder. upper body strength. Anyway both ways meant they would be good readers and strong students. As a child I Loved to ”
“walk the rails,”. roll a barrel hoop or a big old tire, etc.
When I was a young kid running around with my Grandaddy, he had several foot logs across the creek on his property because of owning the property on both sides of the creek. He could walk across them with an armful of things, I never was brave enough to try, I would always sit down, straddle the log and scoot myself along the log. I am not sure I know what a mayfly is, but something I no longer see at this creek is an insect we all called snake doctors and minnows we called red horse minnows. The minnows were red with yellow fins.
l still have snake doctors here in Alabama, just not as many as when l was a kid.
Randy, the snake doctors are dragon flies. Not sure about the minnows. Red horse is good enough for me.
Gene, I knew snake doctors were dragon flies. As a boy, I would try to see if I could shoot them with my very cheap and weak Daisy BB gun.
We have minners not minnows?